Jiraiya

"Old Man Ichiraku, ramen!" Chiba strode excitedly into Ichiraku Ramen and expertly took his usual seat.

"Chiba..." The young Old Man Ichiraku smiled when he saw Chiba. "What'll you have today? I've just developed a new seafood ramen. Or will it be the usual extra-large tonkotsu char siu ramen? Maybe miso ramen?"

"I'll have one of each!" Chiba declared boldly, then called back, "Hirohiko, Yukina, we're going all out today! Order whatever you want!"

As soon as his voice fell, a boy and a girl entered the shop—it was Hirohiko and Yukina. Both children wore serious expressions, as though they were determined to eat themselves to death.

"Extra-large tonkotsu char siu ramen, with seafood added." Hirohiko called out the whole string with a very serious poker face.

"I want extra-large tonkotsu char siu and seafood, then miso ramen with fewer noodles. Thank you, Old Man Ichiraku." Yukina was clearly clever. Fewer noodles meant more toppings.

The young Old Man Ichiraku was stunned by the three children's barrage of orders. After hesitating for a moment, he said, "You three... ordering all that together will be very expensive."

"It's fine, Old Man Ichiraku. Just make it. Someone's paying the bill!" Chiba said. Hirohiko and Yukina had already tacitly taken seats beside him.

Someone was paying?

Ichiraku was somewhat puzzled. Then another person entered his shop, with white hair sticking out like a hedgehog's spines, a braid tied at the end, and a toad forehead protector bearing the character for "oil." It was Jiraiya.

"Isn't that..." Ichiraku naturally recognized one of Konoha's Sannin.

"I'll pay for whatever these three children want to eat," Jiraiya said with a wry smile.

"Oh!" Ichiraku understood at once. He answered and turned back to make the ramen.

Jiraiya found himself a seat, but the wry smile at the corner of his mouth would not fade. He looked at Chiba. This brat is really silver-tongued... In the end, he actually got me to pay for their lunch and dinner.

Hirohiko and Yukina also glanced at Chiba, who was eagerly awaiting his ramen, their eyes shining with admiration.

That speech had thoroughly beaten this middle-aged man into retreat. He had even elevated his act of "throwing shoes at children" into "defiling the will of the First, Second, and Third Hokage," calling him "nothing less than a criminal of Konoha," "an utterly unforgivable bastard," and "an idiot worse than a child—no, a child murderer."

He had actually extorted a whole day's worth of meals!

Amazing!

Hirohiko and Yukina were filled with admiration.

Chiba himself did not know where all those arguments had come from. In any case, whenever he thought of meat and ramen, inspiration poured endlessly into his mind. He had successfully escalated the issue to a sufficiently serious level, and Jiraiya had ultimately been left helpless and speechless, agreeing to his terms.

Treating them to a full day of meals as an apology! Jiraiya had never expected that a simple test of the three geniuses favored by the Third Hokage would end with him paying for two meals.

Still, after testing them, Uchiha Hirohiko and Hyuga Yukina had satisfied him greatly. But this Taki Chiba... other than his sharp tongue catching Jiraiya by surprise, everything else about him had disappointed him.

He could not understand how Chiba had defeated Kakashi. With Chiba's reactions and alertness... could it have been because Kakashi lacked mission experience?

Jiraiya rubbed his chin with one hand and began to think.

Meanwhile, Chiba and the other two swung their little legs as they waited for the delicious Ichiraku Ramen. They did not talk much among themselves. None of them liked talking; Hirohiko spoke the least, Yukina was next, and Chiba was normal enough, except he occasionally sank into his own thoughts and became quiet and contemplative. So whenever they were together, Kushina Uzumaki often teasingly called them the Gloomy Trio.

"Alright, your extra-large tonkotsu char siu ramen, seafood ramen, and miso ramen." Before long, steaming bowls of ramen carrying an irresistible aroma were served.

"And yours, extra-large tonkotsu char siu ramen with seafood added."

"Miso ramen, extra-large tonkotsu char siu, and seafood."

Five bowls of noodles were neatly placed before the three children, and they had long since begun eating impatiently. Chiba in particular wolfed his food down as though the ramen would be snatched away if he ate too slowly.

Suddenly, Chiba looked up from his frantic eating and said, "Old Man, another extra-large tonkotsu char siu ramen, with seafood, and extra seafood on top."

Ichiraku froze and looked at the three huge bowls of ramen in front of Chiba. "Chiba, can you still eat?"

"No! It's not for me." Chiba slurped down a mouthful of noodles and said, "It's for this old man."

As he spoke, Chiba pointed at Jiraiya.

Jiraiya was taken aback. Ichiraku glanced at him, answered, and went to make the ramen.

Jiraiya looked at Chiba with a wry smile. This kid really orders whatever he wants when it isn't his money.

Still, seeing how happily the three children were eating, Jiraiya's wry smile turned into a smile.

These three children would head to the battlefield once the war broke out. After that, who knew whether they would ever have another chance to eat so happily?

Thinking of that, Jiraiya's mood grew heavy, and his smile slowly faded.

"Here! Your extra-large tonkotsu char siu ramen, with two servings of seafood!" A huge bowl of ramen was set before Jiraiya.

Despite smelling its fragrance, Jiraiya had little appetite.

But when he saw Ichiraku standing there with folded arms, smiling as he watched Chiba and the other two eat so happily, Jiraiya picked up his chopsticks and transferred the char siu, seafood, and other things he could not finish into the three children's bowls, drawing all three of their gazes.

"Eat." Jiraiya smiled with narrowed eyes.

That smile was so lecherous...

That was Chiba's first thought.

But why did that smile feel like a bad omen? That was Chiba's second thought.

"Eat..." After distributing the toppings, Jiraiya picked up his chopsticks and began eating his noodles.

Seeing Jiraiya eat, Chiba and the others were briefly puzzled, but they each resumed eating as well.

Half an hour later...

Chiba, Hirohiko, Yukina, and Jiraiya, whose face was full of pain for his wallet, walked out of the shop to Old Man Ichiraku's "Thank you for your patronage."

"Well then, see you tonight." With that, Jiraiya started walking toward his home.

After walking for a while, however, he discovered that three little tails were following behind him, discussing things like, "I'm so full. Hirohiko, Yukina, can you still eat tonight?" "Yes!" "I might not be able to eat much more," and other questions about whether they could manage dinner.

They were even discussing which restaurant in the village was both delicious and expensive.

"Say..." Jiraiya slowly turned around. Chiba and the other two stopped behind him.

"What?" Chiba asked.

"Why are you three following me?" Jiraiya asked helplessly.

"In case you skip out on the bill."

"In case you skip out on the bill!"

"In case you skip out on the bill..."

Chiba, Hirohiko, and Yukina answered one after another.

At once, a bead of cold sweat slid down the back of Jiraiya's head.

These two brats and this little girl! I wasn't planning to skip out on the bill! Jiraiya's brow twitched.

Meanwhile, the three children stared at him with expressions that said they would not let him get away.

In the end, the three followed Jiraiya for the entire day, while Jiraiya did not use ninjutsu to shake them off.

In fact, he had tried once, using the Shadow Clone Jutsu to fool them while his real body escaped. But Yukina's Byakugan spotted the trick, and the three caught up to him again.

This time, Chiba gave him another round of crooked reasoning, leaving Jiraiya with nothing but a wry smile. But Jiraiya had not truly intended to skip out on the bill in the first place, so he let them follow. He even kept walking and running around the village, testing the three children's endurance.

As for endurance, Jiraiya was very satisfied with all three of them. However, a new question arose in his mind.

This Taki Chiba... his performance was not particularly outstanding either. Compared with Uchiha Hirohiko and Hyuga Yukina, he did not seem to have anything remarkable about him...

A little disappointing.

And even more puzzling.

Why had Chiba been able to defeat Kakashi? In Jiraiya's view, he should not have been able to win!

As for dinner that day...

Jiraiya did not want to mention it for a long time afterward, and he learned one important fact.

When Taki Chiba ate barbecue, his stomach was a bottomless pit!

Absolutely never take him out for barbecue again!